The proportion of
adolescents in the United States who are obese has nearly
tripled over the last two decades. At the same time,
schools, often citing financial pressures, have given
students greater access to “junk” foods and soda pop,
using proceeds from these sales to fund school programs.
We examine whether schools under financial pressure are
more likely to adopt potentially unhealthful food
policies. Next, we examine whether students’ Body Mass
Index (BMI) is higher in counties where a greater
proportion of schools are predicted to allow these food
policies. Because the financial pressure variables that
predict school food policies are unlikely to affect BMI
directly, this two step estimation strategy addresses the
potential endogeneity of school food policies. We
find that a 10 percentage point increase in the proportion
of schools in a county that allow students access to junk
food leads to about a one percent increase in students’
BMI, on average. However, this average effect is entirely
driven by adolescents who have an overweight parent, for
whom the effect of such food policies is much larger
(2.2%). This suggests that those adolescents who have a
genetic or family susceptibility to obesity are most
affected by the school food environment. A rough
calculation suggests that the increase in availability of
junk foods in schools can account for about one-fifth of
the increase in average BMI among adolescents over the
last decade.

This paper provides a
clear presentation of the recent trends and the basic
issues in the economics of childhood obesity.
Additionally, it takes a closer look at changes in
children’s home and school environment and discusses how
these might result in changes in obesity. We both
review the existing literature in these areas and discuss
future areas for research.

(Published in JHE, May
2003)This paper seeks to
determine whether a causal relationship exists between
maternal employment and childhood overweight. We use
matched mother/child data from the National Longitudinal
Survey of Youth and employ econometric techniques to
control for observable and unobservable differences across
individuals and families that may influence both
children’s weight and their mothers’ work patterns.
Our results indicate that a child is more likely to be
overweight if his/her mother worked more hours per week
over the child’s life. Analyses by subgroups show that it
is higher socioeconomic status mothers whose work
intensity is particularly deleterious for their children’s
overweight status.

Where the Boys No Longer
Are: Recent Trends in U.S. College Enrollment
PatternsSince the early
1970’s, the fraction of college students who are male has
dropped from about 56 percent to under 44 percent, leading
the popular press to ask where the boys are. This
paper investigates the broad range of influences that
appear to play a role in determining these trends.
An important component is the behavior of earlier cohorts
of women, who enrolled less frequently than males when
young, but later made up for this lack of higher education
by enrolling at older ages. At the same time,
though, young female high school graduates are currently
more likely than males to enroll in college. While
male college graduates earn more than females, male high
school graduates also earn more than females. I find
evidence suggestive of a role for increasing discount
rates making the high school (college) differential more
(less) important over time.

(Forthcoming, National
Tax Journal)We examine the
distributional consequences of the UI payroll tax using
representative individual microdata. We calculate taxes
paid by individual wage and individual and household
income deciles, incorporating the effects of multiple job
holding and turnover. This tax distribution is compared
with the distribution of UI benefits and benefits net of
taxes, as well as to the burdens imposed by the federal
income tax. We conclude that the UI payroll tax is
indeed quite regressive. Within the context of the
regular UI program, this regressivity is offset by the
progressive nature of benefits, leaving the net benefit
distribution progressive. We simulate a
revenue-neutral increase to the OASDI level of the taxable
wage base. The share of total UI taxes paid becomes
fairly equal, and net benefits become positive across more
deciles. Finally, we examine the effect of providing
family leave within the UI system as recently
proposed. We find that the share of such benefits
going to relatively high-income groups is likely to be
much larger than is the case for regular UI benefits.